Junk Drawer Dangers You Need to Know

TOM: Coast to sea-coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: What are you working on this fine spring era? We’re now to help you if it has something to do with your live. If "youre gonna have to" planning a remodel project, maybe an outdoor-living assignment, that has just grown by leaps and bounds. We know that about 40 percent of Americans are thinking about improving their outdoor opening the following spring and summer. If "youre gonna have to" in that bucket, pick up the phone and yield us a bawl. Perhaps you’re picturing about improving your lavatory or your kitchen? Wondering what the most recent developments is in expression of the most wonderful engineering in fixtures and faucets and cabinets to use? All great questions. We want to hear what you’re is currently working on. Announce us, right now, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or affix your question to The Money Pit’s Community page at MoneyPit.com.

Coming up on today’s present, if you’ve made a trip to your garbage drawer lately, you may have missed a seemingly innocuous cache of common household items that can potentially put your dwelling at major danger. We’re going to tell you about a simple storage blunder that has some rooms going up in flames, in only a bit.

LESLIE: And you might know that lumber floorings are super favourite. But today, the flooring marketplace is inundated with wood-look products and it obliges it hard to know whether or not you’re to buy the real thing. We’re going to sort out the phonies from the real transactions, just ahead.

TOM: Plus, if you’re ready to dig into some spring cleanup for your home’s exterior- perhaps your siding, your walkways, your driveways- and get rid of all that winter clay, a pressure washer is definitely one of the handiest implements to have around to accelerate that process along. We’re going to have a review on a super-affordable, brand-new Greenworks electric pressure washer that’s just out at Lowe’s.

LESLIE: But first, we want to help you with your spring dwelling decoration and home better schedules. So give us a entitle now in order to be allowed to help you get started to kick off this warm-weather season perfectly.

LESLIE: Tony in Florida is on the line with some loud plumbing. Tell us what’s croaking on at your coin pit.

TONY: It’s in the walls. It seems like the clanking is going on in the walls. And I can’t get to the hoses because they’re hidden- they’re all are subject to the walls. So every time I applied the faucet on, red-hot or cold, bash, it’s one fling and that’s it. That’s what I get. And I’m just wondering, is there some easy, quick fix for something like that, you know?

TOM: Yeah. So does this happen, Tony, when you open and close the faucets? Is that when it’s worst?

TONY: Correct.

TOM: Alright. That’s called “water hammer.” And what irrigate hammer is - you have to remember that spray is very heavy; it weighs, actually, 8 pounds per gallon. And so, as the water is traveling through the plumbing thread and you open or close a faucet, the inertia of that liquid precisely restrains moving. And it’ll sway the tube and that’s what shapes the banging clang. And of course, pipes transmit sound like crazy and so you’re coming that various kinds of chime to it.

So, what can you do? There’s two things that you can do. All the piping that you could possibly access- so that would be like in the vault or crawlspace or attic. Any region where you can see a hose, you require to contribute some additional strapping to the wall so that takes some of the go out of it.

The second thing that you can do is you can position- or have a plumber invest- something called a “water-hammer arrestor, ” which is, essentially, a leaf springs for a plumbing system. And it will take that inertia from the sea and assimilate it gradually so it doesn’t bang the pipe.

But what you’re describing is a very typical, very normal predicament in an elderly mansion. Generally, unless it’s really super-bad, it doesn’t cause damage. But it’s more of an annoyance than anything else.

Thanks so much better for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Bonnie in California, welcome to The Money Pit. How is impossible to help you today?

BONNIE: We have a condo that we’ve- it’s been leased for 12 years. And when our renters moved out, we were going to sell it. And we pictured stains on the carpet and we thoughts , “Well, we’ll pull out the carpet, oust it and really decorate and cleaning process and gave it up for sale.”

TOM: Right.

BONNIE: Well, when we attracted the carpet back, the cement slab- it’s a cement slab, single-level condo, 1,600- approximately 1,700- square foot with a cement-slab storey. And where reference is plucked back the carpet, we found that it was very damp and there was that white, fuzzy various kinds of ferment or whatever they call it that comes up from the cement.

TOM: Efflorescence. Mm-hmm.

BONNIE: Mass of that. We snapped up all the flooring and thought, “Well, we’ll is moving forward and hire a contractor and have it all fixed and put new trash down.” And it didn’t run dry; it exactly was damp.

But in any case, this problem is not coming solved. We have- we don’t know exactly where to go from here. We want to figure out if there’s some way to seal that storey that is going to keep it from devastating the carpet and timber again and get it for sale. But fasten it so that it’s- so that we can say it’s fixed.

TOM: Alright. Well, here’s what I think is going on, located on your description. If you’ve got that much of a irrigate source that close to the concrete slab- concrete is unusually hydroscopic. I symbolize it has certainly sucks water like crazy. And so if the ground outside is saturated, that is clearly selected through the concrete into the interior and that’s why the flooring has been so wet. My concern is that this could develop, if it hasn’t already, into a mold problem.

The bad news for the condominium association is that if they’re responsible for such structures of this building, which would include the storey, this is their problem to repair , not your problem to fixture. And if I was admonishing them, I would tell them to stop calling contractors to check leaking ponds and start announcing professional engineers that can analyze the building and anatomy out exactly what’s going on and prescribe the proper mend. They’ve got to think big here, not suppose small. Because I think they have a lot of drawback, because it’s perhaps not you; you just happen to be the one that find it. But if your neighbors start pulling up carpet, they’re going to probably find the same thing.

All that you can do on the inside is certainly stop-gap. You can clean up the efflorescence, you are able to framed a masonry sealer on the storey. But the problem is that that concrete is going to continue to get wet, continuous efforts to get damp and eventually it’s going to back out into the unit. So, I think that you need to have a extremely serious sit-down with that condominium association.

BONNIE: Mm-hmm. OK.

TOM: Alright? Good luck, Bonnie.

BONNIE: Thank you very much.

TOM: Thank you for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: You are carolled to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on breath and online at MoneyPit.com. Impart us a call at 888-MONEY-PIT presented by HomeAdvisor, where it’s easy to find top-rated, local home improvement pros for any programme. Just go to HomeAdvisor.com.

TOM: And exactly onward, of all the things floating in or around our garbage drawers, there’s one amazingly common item that can flare up and generate a major residence attack. We’ll tell you what it is, after this.

Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Leave us a call, right now, with your dwelling betterment question at 1-888-MONEY-PIT presented by HomeAdvisor, where it is possible find top-rated residence service pros and record appointments online, all for free.

LESLIE: Joe in Texas is looking to collect some rainwater. Tell us what’s going on at your money pit.

JOE: Alright. Well, we have a ranch near Stephenville, about an hour-and-a-half southwest of Dallas/ Fort Worth. And it can get reasonably arid out here. So, we have some sprinkle barrels- or some black, sizable casks- fixed up to our torrent gutters. And we’re trying to get wise to where it’s actual potable spray that we can use and drink in- time in our everyday, daily lives. So we were kind of wondering what type of filtration system to put on to run that water through and too how to keep the clutter from our ditches blowing in there.

TOM: Well, rainwater reaping is something that’s actually has been going on for centuries. And the committee is modern systems that are available to help you both muster the rainwater and sanctify it, because that’s the key and you want to make sure it’s safe.

A good home to start is RainHarvest.com. That’s an internet site for a company that has specialized in this area for numerous, many years. And they have everything from tiny, home-size organisations up to industrial-size methods. And they too have the specialty filters you asked about keeping the gunk out of the spray. There are special filters to keep out the needles and the tree drop and things like that from going down in there.

So it sounds like you’re kind of well on your practice but what you’re going to need to pick up is a purification system. And that’s a good locate to start: RainHarvest.com.

LESLIE: You know, another good locate that’s out there is HarvestH2O.com. A fortune of articles on there about filtration, purification, some products. Good schedule to resources and founders, as well, there.

JOE: Alright. Thank you.

TOM: Alright. Good luck with that projection. Thanks so much for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Frieda from Ohio is on the route with The Money Pit. How is impossible to help you today?

FRIEDA: Hi. My Amana Radarange microwave, it’s attached above my stave. And on the bottom, the down flame that shines down onto the stove, the light bulbs in that deter burning out. And I have to replace them about once a few months and they’re going expensive.

TOM: What kind of light bulb are you working? Simply a regular incandescent?

FRIEDA: It’s like the R11, the little contraption bulb? Forty watt?

TOM: And is this a moderately new problem, this once-a-month burnout, or has it been going on for a long, long time?

FRIEDA: It’s getting worse. We’ve had the microwave in here- it’s maybe about 16 years old or- accord or take.

TOM: Yeah, that doesn’t genuinely owe you any fund. That’s fairly aged for a microwave device. You’ve pretty much reached the end of a normal life cycle. In happening, I’m kind of surprised it lasted that long, because it’s been my experience that the microwave ovens that are prepared above compass don’t last nearly as long as a countertop microwave. Because the additional hot from all that prepare has the effect of kind of outfit on those components.

Typically, when you get a bulb that burns out instantly, it’s either because you have a loose alliance, you have a loose floor or "youve got a problem" with the voltage that’s to move in there.

Sometimes, depending on what’s happening with the two power companies, you are able to coming, say, more than 120 volts. You might be going 125 or 130 volts, sometimes, because there could be something that is bad down the line with the power supply- the high quality of its power supply. So if you have extra volts going into those lamps, that is one of the first things that tends to show it. It’s kind of like the canary in the coal quarry. When the illuminates start to go- burn out routinely- like that, it could be an issue with the voltage.

So, have you been thinking about a newly microwave?

FRIEDA: Not really.

TOM: What I would suggest is at this point, you really need to have the voltage tested. So I would call the practicality busines and ask them to rhythm the voltage going into your house and see if it’s- let’s eliminate that as a possibility.

If that is OK, I would- the second thing I would check is the plug that it’s actually plugged into. I’d check the outlet to make sure it’s properly grounded. And if it’s accurately footed, then I think you’ve exhausted the two things that are the easiest to reparation and at that point, you might want to think it is right ousting the microwave.

FRIEDA: Alright. That sounds good.

TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.

Well, we’ve all done it: trying to clean up the house, come nonsense out of perception, we’ve shoved it to drawers and into closets. But there’s an opportunity that when you straighten up, you’re too putting your home and their own families at serious risk.

LESLIE: That’s right. You know, too often you’ve got stuff sitting around your live that can go up in flames if it acre in the wrong neighbourhood, like too close to heat beginnings. But here are some do and don’ts that will help you retain to keep everybody safe at home.

First of all, never use your home’s furnace and water heater region for extra storage. These areas are often small and accumulating anything in them, genuinely, is inadvisable.

TOM: Now, the National Fire Protection Association has a recommendation for this. They say nothing combustible should be within 3 foot of any heating equipment. Now, that includes rags, half-empty paint cans, sodden clothes you’re drying out and all that random nonsense you may have accumulated near your hot-water heater right now.

LESLIE: Yeah. And be talking about flammable, there also have been a lot of reports of room burns starting when 9-volt artilleries come into contact with everyday metallic objectives, like a gem clip or a thumbtack. Even a battery that you might have thought was dead or wasn’t sure so you really propelled it in that junk drawer, that’s a dreadful idea.

TOM: If the terminals on that battery are cross-connected- like, say, you have a pair of scissors in the clutter drawer or the paper clip- if that artillery be coming back linked with both sides of that, it could potentially spark. And of course, if there is some newspaper in there, you’ve got sparking and well, you could figure the remain out. It’s not good.

So, to be safe, before you toss any batteries into a drawer, what you can do is applied some strip over the battery’s terminals. A little segment of electrical tape works well. And this will save those electrical present-days in their proper target and retain you and your mansion safe.

LESLIE: Diane in New Jersey, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

DIANE: We live in New Jersey. And my dad had the Pennsylvania Dutch come all the way to New Jersey. And they put up a beautiful gambrel pole barn with that neat chassis to it.

TOM: OK.

DIANE: But I showed the committee is little rafters along the edge. And even though they have little punctures in their own homes, every year the floats come in through there and I have hundreds, all dead bad guys, at the end of time. And I don’t know what I could do to stop that problem.

TOM: So, you have- this is a barn that you have and it’s a fairly open barn? I mean you’re not going to keep the flies out of the barn. You can’t make it that tight because by the nature of the building, it’s fairly drafty, chastise?

DIANE: Well, actually, my dad- we never had any swine near stallings but he- it’s completely closed all the time. It’s got two electrical door at either resolve and a opening, so it is contained. The only room they’re getting in is through- under the edges of the ceiling, there’s a- it looks like a- I don’t know. You know the sewers, kind of? It looks like troughs- trough situation. And there’s an opening there and the sunlight and the air depart through, which I guess you need for animals. But we’re not working it for animals.

TOM: So at the apartment margin, the rafters, does it have a complete soffit? Is it constructed so that you have a flat, showed arena underneath it? Or is it merely wide open?

DIANE: No. There is a showed area. They have looked at it closely. And it appears to have- and it’s get little pits in it big enough for flies.

TOM: So they’re not getting in this soffit range where you’re suspecting.

DIANE: I don’t know. I thought they were coming through those holes.

TOM: Yeah. But if they’re that small-minded, they’re not coming in. Look, normally, soffit ventilation is too small for bugs to get into. So they’re likely coming in a different way. Do you have a crest vent at the pinnacle?

DIANE: Actually it’s just for looks because when I- there is a staircase that goes up to the top of the barn and there’s no openings in the roof.

TOM: Diane, if you’re trying to keep these barn moves out of the barn, there’s genuinely two ways to approaching this. Mechanical, which is what we’re talking about to its implementation of making sure that you have screening wherever it’s required. This would include any volcanoes, gable express, cupola vents, soffit shows and the like. And of course, you mentioned that it has sizable entrances that generally remain closed. I suspect there’s not much you can do right there.

But the second technique is chemical. And the committee is professional pesticides that are designed specifically to deal with these wings. There’s generally some formulation of pyrethrin that essentially is sprayed inside the barn to control these insect populations. And in fact, in some cases where you actually have cattle, the committee is formulations that can also be applied to the livestock without harming them.

So, I would do two things: I would made to ensure that I examine the barn very carefully for any additional openings where these controls can get in; and then I would consult a pest-management professional for an appropriate be applied in pesticide, because you have such a severe problem. I don’t think this is anything you’re going to be able to handle with, say, a most natural, smaller-scale approaching like I might give you for your home. In this case, I think you need to choose the right make and have it applied accurately. And when done, carried out in accordance with all the label attitudes, I think it is a relatively safe thing to do.

I hope that helps you out. Thank you so much for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Jennifer in Texas is on the line and requirement some cure with a flooring projection. Tell us about it.

JENNIFER: We are strategy on laying hardwood in our home. We have a two-story residence and I’m wanting to know if it is better to lay each plank the same tack, upstairs and downstairs, or is impossible to permutation it up?

TOM: Generally speaking, you want to go in the long counseling of the chamber. So in other words, you miss the boards to be parallel to the longest wall. I don’t- I would not swap that up because it’s going to look odd, don’t you think?

LESLIE: Yeah. It moves the apartment seem bigger.

JENNIFER: Oh, OK.

TOM: Now, what kind of hardwood storeys are you putting down, Jennifer? Are they prefinished hardwood floorings?

JENNIFER: Yeah, it’s the snap-and-lock.

TOM: OK. So it’s an engineered floor. So, make sure they’re parallel to the longest wall. And remember, nothing is square about a house.

LESLIE: Yeah.

TOM: So, bar the center of the office as determined by the hub place between the walls. And figure it out so you don’t end up with a flake of hardwood flooring on the end.

JENNIFER: OK. Thank you.

TOM: You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Precisely onward, a brand-new examination says that two-thirds of Americans wish lumber storeys. But today, the flooring grocery is flooded with wood-look commodities and which are in a position to make it super hard to know whether or not you’re purchasing the real thing. We’re going to sort out the impostor from the real bargains, in time a bit.

TOM: Concluding good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Well, according to new investigate by the National Wood Flooring Association, two-thirds of U.S. homeowners say they would choose grove floorings for their fantasy dwelling. But the flooring grocery is inundated with wood-look products, building it tough to be seen whether you’re purchasing the real thing or not.

LESLIE: That’s right. The NWFA has a brand-new initiative announced “Real Wood. Real Life.” to clear up the disorder. With us to talk about that is Brett Miller, the vice president of education and certification.

Welcome, Brett.

BRETT: Hello. I acknowledge being on.

TOM: So, there are an dreadful batch of alternatives to real wood floor today. And there’s reasons for it. Some of it’s less expensive, easier to set. But for those that really do want the seek of real timber, what kind of resources are available for them to make sure they’re picking the best floorings for their special life?

BRETT: As you told me, there is a lot makes that are out there today resembling the watch of lumber. And they’re doing- a lot of these products are doing such a great profession that it’s difficult- even for wood people, in some situations- to be able to identify the difference.

As you mentioned, we have recently propelled a “Real Wood. Real Life.” expedition, which is designed to reach the consumer and allow the interests of consumers to suitably choose and identify what grove floor works for their specific situation.

TOM: What kinds of things do you need to consider when choosing your grove storey? There are different hardness, for example, of every kind of wood species.

BRETT: That’s correct. And every lifestyle is a little bit different. Every dwelling is a little bit different. And every area that has wood can even be a little bit different.

So, as you told me, wood categories is big. The hardness of the wood runs across the board, across the hardwoods and the softwoods within the wood-flooring industry. The slash of the lumber- the lane it’s cut out of the tree- can also be used alter the durability and the hardness and how it reacts to ordinary, daily life as well as the finishes that are used on the wood.

Today, we’re viewing a lot of natural, probing oils that really soak into the grove fibers themselves and harden from inside. Easy to maintain but a different seem. And beings that are used to a plastic-type coating, like a urethane finishing over the top, it’s been a bit of a read bow in how live their lives those types of floors, in terms of how durable they can be and how they react to everyday life.

LESLIE: And I make the durability is something really important to talk about, because a lot of beings sort of conceive, “Oh, if I get a real grove floor, there’s so much maintenance. How durable is it disappearing to be? I have a very busy family. We have vast pets.” How are you able sort of clear up the fluster as to what the soundnes elevation is to an actual wood floor?

BRETT: And that’s a great question and I recall that’s one that - you are familiar, we were at the Builders’ Show recently. And one of our banners that we put up, that we came out with for this campaign, demonstrated the dog sitting on a lumber floor. And one of the keys is that babies are great on grove floors. And the perspective that when a floor scratches, it’s a bad thing is one that our the businesses and genuinely, every floor covering in the industry lots with. Wear and tear and durability.

One of the things that we’ve certainly wanted to focus on within this campaign is the fact that even if you get a dog scratch or even if you get any sort of wear and tear on that timber floor, it’s a part of the histories of that storey. Wood storeys can last for hundreds of years. And in fact, in Europe, there’s floors that are over 500 years old the hell is original floors to the facilities they’re in. When maintained properly and when understood that wear of a grove storey is really the patina and the age and the elegance of that wood flooring- is part and parcel of the mindset that we’re trying to change.

TOM: Every scratch tells a storey. It’s part of the charm, Leslie.

LESLIE: No, I intend I agree with it.

TOM: Brett, when you talk about wood, are we talking exclusively about solid grove? What about engineered hardwood? Is that also what you guys are considering grove flooring in this campaign?

BRETT: About a year ago, there were some produces that "re coming out" into the marketplace being touted as grove storeys, when all they were was they may have contained wood pulp or lumber composites but they had goods-for-nothing to do with real wood. So it impelled us, as an industry, to come out and define what a real grove storey is. And as silly as we thought that was up front, it turned out to be a very difficult task. And we pulled together some of our members to define what a real wood floor is.

And within that interpretation, the self-evident is solid-wood flooring. It’s a piece of lumber from top to bottom, all the nature through the traditional 3/4 -inch solid section of wood flooring. An engineered-wood storey is also a real-wood storey. Engineered-wood flooring is real from top to bottom but made of several veneers. So the top bed would be whatever the category is and then then core and the endorsement is also made of wood. And then we came out with a third list that helps separate those commodities that may have real lumber on top but may be made of a composite substance below. So the core and the backing- who are knowledgeable about?- in 10, 15 times, may be made out of titanium or something funny like that. But at the end of the day, if it’s real timber on the top, it’s a real grove floor.

LESLIE: Now, do you think that for somebody who’s looking to buy a dwelling, is there a higher recognized significance in a house that has real lumber floorings?

BRETT: Topic of information, with some of the results of the study that we’ve done, as well as the real-estate manufacture, virtually 80 percent of homeowners imagine lumber storeys supplement the highest value to a residence over any other type of floor covering. It has been proven that homes with timber floors do sell faster and for more money than residences without. Real-estate agents indicate that an identical dwelling with timber floors can sell for up to 10 percentage more than a home across the street without lumber floors.

LESLIE: That’s a lot of money.

BRETT: It is. It can be. And one of the most important costs of wood storeys- and this being real lumber storeys- is that the lifespan of that floor can readily surpassed even the life of the residence, in a lot of situations.

TOM: We’re talking to Brett Miller. He’s the weaknes chairman of education and certification for the National Wood Flooring Association.

Brett, before we let you go, one of the questions we get asked very often now on the depict has to do with cleansing floorings. If you do have a real wood storey and you’re concerned about not marring it, what is the best mode to cleanse a lumber flooring? What kinds of materials do you use? Do you have to be careful about how much moisture is involved? Tell us.

BRETT: Yes. Likely one of the most challenging things our manufacture deals with is proper maintenance on wood storeys. The best thing to do for a grove floor is to keep grunge and grime off of the storey. And that can happen just simply by embroiling, dust mop or vacuuming but abusing the vacuum cleaner on a bare-floor setting.

What we insure a lot of is people utilizing concoctions that add a sheen or a polish or something to that wood-floor finish and it can ultimately damage that finish. And it also scuffs and blemishes very easily. It’s not the same as a wood-floor finish.

We likewise see issues with beings working steam to clean floorings and even the aged, traditional swabbing the floor or expending wet cleans on those wood floors.

TOM: Right.

BRETT: So , no moisture is really necessary. The best cleanup is just to stop grease and junk swept off that floor finish. Because as soon as you walk across that dirt it, in essence, turns into sandpaper on the bottom of your shoes.

TOM: Makes sense.

Brett Miller, the vice president of education and certification for the National Wood Flooring Association, thanks so much for stopping by The Money Pit.

If you’d like more information, you are able to see their website at NWFA.org.

BRETT: And thank you, guys, so much better for having me on. I actually appreciate it.

LESLIE: Hey, are you wondering what supremacy implement is the most helpful for your spring cleansing? Well, our election, for sure, goes to the pressure washer. We’re going to share tips-off on a new representation that’s affordable and effective, next.

TOM: Pay us a see, right now, with your residence better assignment. We want to hear about the project that you’re working on for in or outside your home. Are you planning a floor or a porch? Are you planning to improve your lawn and your countryside? Perhaps you’re building a boulder wall in the back of your house to kind of held up some earth, perform some more space, eliminate some maybe some soggy homes. Perhaps you’re doing a kitchen or a shower. Perhaps you’d like to get organized with those wardrobes. Whatever you’re working on, slither it over to our to-do schedule. We’ll give you some help by announced us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

And 888 -MONEY-PIT is presented by HomeAdvisor. You can find out what it costs to do your dwelling projection before you hire a pro and instantly book one of HomeAdvisor’s top-rated pros, for free.

LESLIE: Now we’ve get Sparky in Georgia on the line with, fittingly, an electrical question. What can we do for you?

SPARKY: Hi. I’m in a prewired residence that has RG59 coaxial cable coming into each room. I need to supplant that now with RG6, which is a thicker coaxial cable. What is the best acces of going through to change all those?

TOM: Well, generally, whenever you want to rewire anything in the members of this house, it doesn’t ever make sense to remove what’s there. What you’ll generally do is cut it back. And you’ll really virtually - you’re going to run the brand-new cable as if you were putting it in for the first time. Of course, because the home is previously up, it’s tricky to do this to run it through walls and substance but you are able to expend cable serpents to do this. And sometimes, if the cable is loose in the wall, you can actually attach the new cable to the old-time cable and draw it through at the same time.

Sometimes you can get away with that but it basically makes a lot of skill to run brand-new wires in a house that’s previously up. And that’s fairly much the behavior you do it. The reaction is: any lane you can. So, if your cable is loose and you are able to pull one finish up and confine the other culminate to it so that you’re various kinds of plucking it all the action through, you do that. If you can’t do that because it’s nailed in place, then what you might do is just sort of snip off the ends, tuck it apart in the wall and range a brand-new cable next to it. But basically, it’s a bit of a knotty errand and you try to get wise done any way you can.

SPARKY: I gotcha. Highly good. You’ve been helpful. Thank you very much.

TOM: Alright. Good luck with that projection. Thanks so much for announcing us at 888 -MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Well, we’re quickly approaching the spring-cleaning season. I mean we’re in it. You might be just diving into your spring-cleaning season or you could be spreading it out over the entire season. Whatever "you were doin ", let’s talk about a really helpful implement to have and that is the pressure washer. It surely can speed up that process particularly, particularly quickly.

Now, Greenworks has a new, 1,800 -PSI electrical pressure washer on world markets now. It’s super convenient to use and it’s got a heap of very helpful features.

TOM: Yep. It’s got a 13 -amp motor and it delivers 1.1 gallons of liquid a instant. So that’s actually a lot of emptying power. It too comes with five quick-connect nozzles, including the Turbo Nozzle. I have this concoction and that is my go-to for pretty much all the jobs around my house, whether I’m cleansing the sidewalk or shelling some cover off maybe an old-fashioned radiator or even scavenging my vehicle. I enjoy having all of those nozzles at the ready, because they’re just so easy to switch in and out of each one to do exactly exactly what you need to do.

LESLIE: You know, what we also like is that when this entire pressure washer was designed, it’s been designed so that everything it is necessary to is stored on board, like the spray gun, the superpower cord, all of the tips. So it’s got everything you need right within reach and "youve never" have to run back to the molt or the garage. And it also has an on-board soap tank, also, which sees it really easy to add the detergent.

TOM: Yep. And it’s especially useful for campaigns like cleansing your driveway or your floor or your walkways or your siding or even your car.

I was reading some evaluations, more, and people are just affection this concoction. You’re going to find it for the everyday premium of just 169 at your local Lowe’s home improvement store. So, if you’d like something that can really spruce up your springtime clean, check out the brand-new Greenworks 1,800 -PSI Electric Pressure Washer at Lowe’s.

LESLIE: Now we’re heading over to Virginia where Margaret has a question about a bathtub. Tell us what’s going on.

MARGARET: We have an aged, cast-iron bathtub and it’s real rusty in distinguishes. And I’m wondering what we could do to restore it.

LESLIE: Now, when you say real rusty in distinguishes, are we talking about large-scale places or are we talking about tiny, little ones from a chipping now and there?

MARGARET: No. We’re is speaking to big-hearted blots because the sea- it was not good sea when we first moved here. And so it had a lot of wear and tear on it about 40 years before we moved here. And we’ve been living here, probably, about 45 times, so ...

TOM: So your bathtub is virtually 100 years old, huh?

MARGARET: Exactly.

TOM: Yeah. Well, inspection, it dished the members of this house well. It’s not going to last forever. It needs to be reglazed at this point. And I’ve had some know-how with folks that have tried to reglaze these bathtubs inside the house. And it can be done but it’s an awfully sloppy and intensive errand. And unless it’s done professionally, it doesn’t seem to last-place very long. There are home reglazing gears. Rust-Oleum shapes one that’s for bathtub and tile but I wouldn’t expect it to last all that long.

The best nature to do this is to have the bathtub made out and reglazed. But if you’re going to do now all that, you are able to as well replace it and not only have that- not just not have that reglazed unless it’s peculiarly beautiful. I contemplate those are your options. It’s not easy to do a touch-up to something like this when it’s just got so- it’s got almost 100 years of wear and tear on it.

MARGARET: Oh. Yes, yes. OK. That was my question. I appreciate that.

TOM: Regrettably, Margaret, there’s no easy acces to remove 100 years of wear and tear on that tub and so you’re probably better off simply replacing it.

LESLIE: Hey, are you looking for some brand-new pillow? Well, you might be surprised at the prices. Before you decline a boatload of bucks on expensive expanses, make sure you know which sheets are worth the extra money for those working additional Zs. We’re going to tell you how, after this.

TOM: Here to help you with your residence better projects. Help yourself firstly by calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT being submitted by HomeAdvisor.com. Never worry about overpaying for a occupation. Use the HomeAdvisor True Cost Guide to identify what others paid for a same job, all for free at HomeAdvisor.com.

LESLIE: While you’re online, upright your questions to The Money Pit and Tom and I will get back to you real quick. Right here, we’ve got one from Marie who writes: “A neighbor’s kid wrote on my barricade with permanent marker and I want to get rid of the mess before the nicer climate hits. Any ideas for removing it? ”

Well, if you’ve got a vinyl fence, I say Magical Eraser. And you’re luck; you get off easy.

TOM: Yeah. Or WD-4 0 will break down those markers and take them off. Just make sure you rinse it real good. But listen, if it’s a wood barrier, there’s no way you’re going to get it off; it’s soaked into the wood. So, what is necessary do is prime it and draw it. Not only paint but frame primer on it first. Otherwise, that marker will sort of bleed right through and you’ll be reminded of that stinking kid all summer long.

LESLIE: Hopefully, it doesn’t say anything too offensive.

TOM: Well, busy schedules make most of us have to fight hard to putting in place the smartphone and shut the laptop and psyche on off to bed. And formerly we get there, we need the most wonderful sleep we can possibly get. Leslie has the details enabling you to do merely that, in today’s copy of Leslie’s Last-place Word.

And Leslie, this is all about the pillow, right? I planned not all sheets are created equal.

LESLIE: That really is true. But first of all, my opinion: nothing is better than fresh, clean-living expanses on the couch. It always feels so ...

TOM: Cleanliness comes first, then the type of sheets second.

LESLIE: But it ever feels so wonderful when you’ve really changed the sheets and you climb right into your fresh bed.

But before you do that, let’s think it is right the all sorts of membranes, how much "youre supposed to" invest. Because I mull a lot of people get very surprised when they think it is right comfort quilt, thread tallies, fabric types. You could move up and down the alley at the dwelling storages and precisely really be completely overwhelmed. So, before you decline those dollars, know exactly what each type offers and what their detriments are.

Now, first and foremost, bamboo membranes. You maybe assure them around. They aren’t just soft, they’re super soft. You can actually compare them to cashmere. And they’re is going to be softer the longer that you keep them. But if they’re from China- and most of the bamboo expanses are- there’s an opportunity that they come from an uncertified mill. So, skip bamboo sheets if all of this uncertainty about where they are from is going to keep you awake at night.

Another option is organic, Egyptian cotton membranes. These are super sought after and genuinely, with good reason. They’re soft, durable, breathable. They’re good for anyone who gets warm in the middle of the night. But if you adore the seeing of a crispy bed, you want to pass on the Egyptian cotton. It’s going to wrinkle easily and it kind of ever performs the bed looks a lot like it’s a little messy. So, if you’re a stickler for having everything nice and nifty and folded straighten, that’s not the membrane for you.

Now, for luxury expanses, fostered silk sheets are the ultimate in softness. But even if you can afford to splurge on this expensive bedding, the long-term expense there might be more than you bargained for. Silk sheets are readily injured if you’ve went jagged toenails, bumpy feet, fingernails, rough skin on your shoulders. And forget about working your washer and dryer to clean them. You have to hand-wash them or dry-clean them and then air-dry them. And that is something I do not want to deal with when it is necessary to my bedding.

So I always go for a high thread-count cotton. I look for something that feels good that’s going to wear well. And following the conclusion of the day, again, a delightful, crispy, clean-living bed is fantastic.

TOM: Good advice.

This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Coming up next time, washers and dryers. You know, those are two gadgets that get a pretty serious exercising in the majority dwellings, specially if you’ve got young kids. And while they are generally don’t necessary a lot of upkeep, they do need some upkeep if you’d like them to keep working safely and effectively. We’ll have tips on how to do precisely that, on the very next copy of The Money Pit.

I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself ...

LESLIE: But you don’t have to get it on alone.

END HOUR 2 TEXT

( Copyright 2019 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc. No parcel of this record or audio datum may be reproduced in any format without the say written permission of Squeaky Door Productions, Inc .)

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LESLIE: Ashwani in Illinois is on the line with a tree crowding question. What’s going on?

ASHWANI: I have seven or eight trees in my backyard, which are pretty tall, like 30 to 40 feet. And they’re close to my house. I have been seeing that their roots have started showing up on the ground. I don’t know if it was because of the drought or what, you know, in different kinds of trees: crab, white ash, crabapple. I’m just wondering, is there something I can do to fix it or I have to get – start getting rid of them? Because if they get weak and they fall, then they might fall on my house.

TOM: Well, first of all, this is Mother Nature’s way of growing these trees and the tree roots. And no, there’s nothing you can do about tree crowding. If the trees are healthy then, of course, the risk of them falling on your home is certainly reduced. Anything could happen in a storm but I tell you, I’d rather have tree crowding around my house and take a chance on one falling down in a storm than not, because they’re just so beautiful and they have so many energy-efficient benefits by keeping the sun away. Now, if they’re very crowded, you may consider thinning them out. Sometimes, you have to take out one tree to make room for another. It’s a project I did myself about three weeks ago. I had planted some trees when we first moved to our house over 20 years ago. And it turned out that one of them, I felt, was really sort of taking the sun away too much from another and causing it to stunt. And then it became damaged by woodpeckers, so I just decided to take it out. And now, that tree that’s next to it is doing much better. So, sometimes, you’ve got to thin things out in order to give the remaining trees – maybe the ones that are in the best shape or the ones you like to look at the most – a better chance of surviving and thriving. So, I think this is really just sort of a management issue. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what you’ve described. It doesn’t give me any pause that you’re going to have a lot of risk of damage to your house. Like I said, as long as they’re healthy and as long as you are keeping an eye on them and making sure they stay that way and as long as they’re not growing too terribly close to the house – I mean roots that are within 2 or 3 feet of the house can cause foundation issues. But if we’re talking about tree crowding that is just in your backyard, I think that you’ll be OK just the way it is.

ASHWANI: OK.

TOM: And if they’re that close to the house and if they’re really tall and really heavy, then you may want to think about thinning them out, OK?

ASHWANI: Yeah. Thank you. Thanks a lot.

TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

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TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Happy Fall. We hope that you are tackling lots of fun home improvement projects this weekend. And if it’s not fun, well, maybe we can help you out. So give us a call with your home improvement questions, your décor dilemmas, your smart-home challenges.

I always think, every time I hook up a smart-home piece of equipment, that the house is smarter than I am, Leslie.

LESLIE: You have to be pretty smart to make it all work, though, I’ve got to tell you.

TOM: You do, you do. But whatever is going on in your money pit, we’d love to help you step it up, spruce it up, fix it up, decorate it up. But help yourself first: pick up the phone, give us a call, right now, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

Coming up on today’s show, a wet fall brings the potential for a dangerous invader to hit your house. It’s mold. We’re going to have some tips to help you identify and clean mold. And we’re going to talk about what might be covered by your homeowners insurance.

LESLIE: And if you’re lucky enough to have a sprinkler system for your lawn, now is the time when that system needs to be winterized. You don’t want to see what happens when it’s not. Trust me. It happened to Tom one time and it was a real mess. We’re going to explain what needs to happen, to avoid a frozen mess, in just a bit.

TOM: And if you love the look of greenery around the outside of your house but it seems that you’ve only got a black thumb when it comes to getting greenery to flourish inside your home, we’re going to have a solution.

LESLIE: But to kick things off, we want to hear from you. So, give us a call. Let us know what you are working on, gearing up for the busiest time of the year at home. It’s the holiday season just around the corner, so let us give you a hand. Give us a call at 888-MONEY-PIT.

JOE: And I used opened-cell, sprayed-in insulation and they come in and then they shave it all down to the studs.

TOM: Yep. Yep.

JOE: So, we have a completely sealed envelope of the structure itself.

TOM: OK.

JOE: Now, when – it’s a truss roof, so there’s really no attic. But there is a space up there.

TOM: OK.

JOE: When you sheetrock the whole ceiling and close that off, do I need to be concerned with some sort of ventilation in the attic space?

TOM: No, not at all. Not at all.

Where did they insulate in the attic? Did they insulate under the roof itself or …?

JOE: They insulated the roof, right to the plywood roof.

TOM: Yeah. Nope, you absolutely do not need to ventilate a spray-foam house and here’s why: because, basically, now that attic is a conditioned space.

I have a spray-foamed attic. It’s terrific because it’s pretty much the same temperature as the rest of the house all the time. It used to be that it was, you know, super hot in the summer and really cold in the winter. Now, it’s pretty much even-steven. And the fact that you used spray foam means that it expanded and sealed all the little cracks and gaps and crevices, so you’re not going to have any problems with drafts getting in there.

JOE: OK.

TOM: So you do not need to ventilate that roof.

JOE: Oh. How about – we have mechanical equipment up there. I have the air-conditioning unit up there.

TOM: Yep. Mm-hmm.

JOE: No concerns with that, in that space, either?

TOM: No. It’ll even work better because now, when it’s trying to cool in the summer, it’s not going to be doing so in an attic space that’s 110 degrees.

JOE: Alright. I was concerned because there’s absolutely no ridge vent, no soffit vent and no …

TOM: Yeah. No, that is done correctly. And we have to start thinking differently. Now, we use attic ventilation when we use products like fiberglass, because we have to manage the moisture. But with spray foam, ventilation is not an issue. That is now a conditioned part of your house, just like any room in your house.

JOE: OK.

TOM: You may not have heating ducts up there but it does not need to be ventilated.

JOE: Fantastic.

TOM: Alright? That’s a good choice.

JOE: Alright. Alright. Very good.

TOM: Good luck, Joe. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Alright. Next up, we’ve got June on the line with a question about a metal roof.

What’s going on, June?

JUNE: Yes. I have a home that was built in 1972. It’s a pier-and-beam. I’m told it’s a modular home and I wanted to put a metal roof on it.

TOM: OK.

JUNE: And my daughter tells me she doesn’t think it’s strong enough to hold up a metal roof. And so, I …

TOM: A metal roof is going to weigh not that much more than an asphalt-shingle roof. And if you didn’t put a metal roof on, you’d put a second layer of asphalt on. Then it would be really heavy. So I would tell you to take off the old roof shingles and go ahead and put the metal roof on. I mean it is the most durable roof. It really lasts virtually indefinitely if it’s done right. So, I think it’s a great idea.

JUNE: That’s what I thought.

TOM: And I doubt, very much, that you’re going to have any issues with the strength of the building. If it’s been standing up since 1972, I’d say that it definitely needs a new roof and it certainly should be plenty strong to hold a metal roof. It’s a great choice.

And the metal roof, the finishes today, too, especially in your part of the country where it’s quite warm, they have reflective paint finishes on them. So they actually make the home cooler and it makes it easier to cool in the summertime.

JUNE: Can they leave the old shingles on and just put it over the top of it?

TOM: They can but I do not recommend it. You should always take the old shingles off. It’s a much better job.

JUNE: Oh, OK.

TOM: OK?

JUNE: Alright.

TOM: Alright. Good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

JUNE: Thank you very much.

LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. Give us a call at 888-MONEY-PIT. Let us know what you are working on. We are here to give you a hand.

888-MONEY-PIT is presented by HomeAdvisor, the fast and easy way to find the best home service pros in your area. You can read reviews and book appointments online.

TOM: Up next, if you’ve got a sprinkler system, now is the time to get it winterized. Done well, you won’t have any issues but done poorly, you might end up with a few unexpected geysers come spring. We’ll have tips to get it done the right way, after this.

Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: We’d love to talk with you about what’s going on in your money pit. Give us a call, right now, on The Money Pit’s listener line at 888-MONEY-PIT presented by HomeAdvisor.

LESLIE: You can get matched with top-rated home service pros in your area and read verified reviews and even book appointments online, all for free.

TOM: No matter the type of job, HomeAdvisor makes it fast and easy to hire the best local pros.

LESLIE: Chris in Louisiana is on the line and needs help with a driveway project. Tell us what’s going on.

CHRIS: Well, I have an old, concrete driveway that’s got a few cracks in it.

TOM: OK.

CHRIS: I would imagine those could be patched up with something like QUIKRETE. But what I’m basically asking about is extending the driveway from where it sort of slopes down to the ground, which is above the street level. And there’s about maybe a gap of 12 feet, perhaps, between the end of the driveway, which sort of feathers down. And then I’d like to extend it down towards the street so my property is about maybe 2 feet higher – eh, not quite that. Almost 2 feet.

TOM: So what’d they do? Run out of concrete the first time they poured the driveway?

CHRIS: No. We don’t have any sidewalks, so this would go over the area where there would be a sidewalk if they had sidewalks.

TOM: Alright.

CHRIS: So I’m asking if concrete’s a better material to use or asphalt or perhaps something else, even?

TOM: Oh, no. I think you – since you have a concrete driveway right now, I would clearly extend it using more concrete. I would repair those cracks in the surface. There is a QUIKRETE concrete-repair product that comes in a caulk tube for those small cracks.

And you could also consider using one of the resurfacing products that are available so that now you’ll have a brand-new driveway and an old driveway. And if you resurface that driveway, it’s kind of like stucco. And they’re specially designed to stick to the old concrete. Then the whole thing will look brand new and it’ll all kind of match.

CHRIS: OK. And do you have to wet that down first or …?

TOM: Yeah, you just follow the instructions. There’s a …

CHRIS: What’s that product called?

TOM: It’s made by QUIKRETE and I think it’s called Sand/Topping Mix or something like that.

CHRIS: OK. And I can get that at a home center?

TOM: Home centers. You know, take a look at the QUIKRETE website. They’ve got some great videos there on all of these projects.

CHRIS: OK. Now, how about the extension? Do I need to build a form or just lay concrete down and kind of pack it in?

TOM: No. Have you ever poured concrete yourself before?

CHRIS: A little bit but mostly just for small projects, like walks and stuff.

TOM: Well, you know what? This is a pretty big project and since you haven’t done it before, I would recommend that you get a mason to help you. It’s a little bit different to handle this amount of concrete. You’re going to need a fair amount of it.

But basically, the way the project goes is they do build forms that hold the concrete in at the end. And with a 12-foot section, they’re going to probably put an expansion joint in between. So you pour the first section and then you have the expansion joints in there. Then you pour the second section.

You’ve got to shake the concrete and treat the concrete and finish the concrete so that the rocks fall down to the bottom and sort of the smoothest mud comes up to the top. Then you’ve got to put a finish in it so it’s not slippery. And you usually do that with a very coarse broom. So, it’s not the kind of first-time concrete project that I would recommend to somebody.

CHRIS: At least that gives me an idea what to aim for. OK. Well, thanks a lot. I always enjoy your program on the weekends, when I hear it.

TOM: Well, thanks very much, Chris. We appreciate that and good luck with that project.

LESLIE: Well, sprinkler systems are a luxury that affords you a green lawn and garden all spring and summer long. And truly, it really is a fantastic thing to have at your house, because you will never forget to water anything ever again.

But if you live in a climate where they need to be winterized, it’s a job that has to be done right or you could be faced with a big repair bill when spring comes along.

TOM: Now, we once had a little bit of a sprinkler emergency. I think it was more of a communication breakdown, because I could’ve sworn that my sprinkler contractor had come and blown out the sprinklers for the season. But alas, he did not. And we learned this when the sprinkler lines burst and the water was on and we had just a gusher happening inside of our yard. It was quite a pond. A frozen lake would be the best way to describe it. So, it really is important, this time of year, to get that done.

Now, there are really three ways to winterize a sprinkler system. You can do it manually, you can do it automatically and you can do what we just call a “blowout.” And the first step in all cases, though, is turning off the water supply.

Now, if you do it manually, you want to open the manual drain valves and allow the water to drain. And by the way, water – sometimes the water, it’s still under a lot of pressure, it comes out very, very quickly at first.

And then you can also use an automatic system, if you’ve got these special types of automatic drain valves. They’re going to be located at the end and the low points of irrigation piping. These open by themselves, automatically. They drain water if the pressure in the pipe is less than 10 pounds per square inch. So to activate them, you just shut off the irrigation water supply and it pretty much does the rest for you.

LESLIE: Now, there’s one other way you can do it, which is have a pro come by and do it. And they blow it out by using forced air. And that really makes sure that all of the water is completely removed from the line. There’s a service fee for that. You may sign up for a yearly service package to keep the costs down. But they’ll also renew any permits you might need, check backflow valves, all the other stuff that you need to do, as well, for the sprinkler system.

TOM: And it’s always good to have a pro shut the sprinkler system off because most of the reputable pros, if they mess up something it’s going to turn up in the spring. So, when they come to turn the system back on, they’ll just fix it without any kind of an emergency charge.

So, get it done right, you won’t end up with your own version of the Frozen movie is the bottom line here.

DENISE: Well, I don’t live in there – that home; I’m in another state. My son’s there. And he’s hit two or three sides of the house.

TOM: OK.

DENISE: So, my son has put little pieces of wood up there. It’s a manufactured home, so don’t ask me what the siding is. I don’t know. I’m sure you do. But they just make new holes.

TOM: Right. Yeah.

DENISE: So he was thinking he – we’ve investigated products and the manufacturer actually says, “No, it won’t work.” And so, we’ve come down to some kind of a stone facing. And I don’t know anything about that. I don’t know …

TOM: Well, first of all, if we’re talking about replacing siding, then you’re probably talking about a product like HardiePlank, which is a great product. And it’s basically a cementitious board that can look like wood, frankly – I’ve got it on my garage; it looks great – but you can’t get birds, like woodpeckers, or bugs that can destroy it.

But before we go there, let me give you some real simple things to try, which I’ve had very good success with over the years. So, you want to dissuade this woodpecker or pack of woodpeckers from working on that side of your house. It’s just a matter of habit. You know, the reason they peck the wood is because they’re looking for worms and they have no idea that there’s no worms inside the wood that’s being used to side your house.

If you were to cut strips of black plastic – let’s say you had a Hefty bag and you cut it into 2-inch strips – and you were to attach some of the strips in that area, the fluttering of those strips will dissuade the woodpeckers from coming back. And if you leave it up there for a couple months and then take it down, the problem might go away.

The other thing that works is shiny discs, like tin pie plates. When those sort of twist in the breeze, they also can dissuade woodpeckers. But I like the black plastic strips because they’re not quite as obvious and they’re really easy to do.

DENISE: Right.

TOM: So, if you were to go up there with that and tack them in place in that area, I think you may find that the woodpeckers are confused by that and might just go and take on somebody else’s house down the street. But at least they’ll leave yours alone.

DENISE: Mm-hmm. We have tried aluminum foil strips and that didn’t work.

TOM: But I would try the black plastic strips. I think you’ll have success with that.

DENISE: So, can you – if it’s not, what kind of siding can he put up to dissuade these little buggers?

TOM: Well, if you want a siding that they’re not going to be able to get through, then I would suggest HardiePlank – H-a-r-d-i-e-P-l-a-n-k.

DENISE: OK.

TOM: They have clapboard, they have shingles. It’s really nice stuff. Take a look at the HardiePlank website and you’ll be able to see lots of photos of homes that have been covered with it.

DENISE: Does it come in sections, like 4 feet wide or …?

TOM: It comes in different types of siding profiles, so the clapboard or the shingle, for example. They have many different types but you can take a look at their – maybe you’ll find one that’s close to what you have. And you can use it for a repair product, too.

Alright, Denise? Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Alright. Now we’re welcoming Tim from Illinois to The Money Pit with a water-heating question. What’s going on?

TIM: Oh, I have a nine-year-old water tank and I’m trying to get the rod that collects all the minerals out. And it didn’t want to come, so I was afraid to have busted some pipes. So I was curious, should I just – should leave it alone? And with it being nine years old, it’s almost at the end of its life as far as the water tank. Because I understand that water tanks are usually from 8 to 12 years for a replacement?

TOM: Yeah. So you’re – you’ve been trying to replace the anode and having a hard time getting it out, correct?

TIM: Yeah. I think it’s rusted in or I …

TOM: Sometimes, you have to put – get a little leverage on the wrench to do that. And once you get the wrench on the anode, sometimes you have to kind of extend that wrench handle to really get that out. It’s a bit of a tricky job. But considering the age of the tank, I probably wouldn’t spend much money on it because I think you’re right: 10, 12 years is a pretty average life expectancy for a standard water heater.

And when it comes time to replace the water heater, you might even decide to upgrade it and go with a tankless water heater, which is going to last you a lot longer and be far more efficient.

TIM: And that might be a good choice for me because I’m single and no one else lives in the household and I’m gone most of the time.

TOM: Yeah, well, that’s the difference between a tankless water heater and a standard water heater: the water heater is kind of dumb. It just – it heats the water 24/7 whether you need it or not. And when the water cools down, it comes back on and heats it some more.

A tankless water heater is going to heat on demand. And so, because that’s going to be a lot more efficient for a single guy – but even a big family with teenage daughters, for example, that don’t know the meaning of a short shower, they never run out of hot water when they have tankless. Could just – works very well in both extremes.

TIM: So how much is something like – cost for installation and so forth?

TOM: Well, if you compare it against a high-efficiency, tanked water heater, it’s similar. But if you compare it against a standard, sort of low-efficiency, it’s probably going to be about twice as much. But it will last longer, too, and you’re going to save money on the energy bills, too.

TIM: I thank you for your time. And I love your show and your advice is well worth listening to.

LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Coming up, a wet fall brings the potential for a dangerous invader to your house this winter: mold. But is cleanup a safe DIY project? Kevin O’Connor from This Old House is joining us with tips, next.

TOM: And This Old House on The Money Pit is presented by ADT. Introducing ADT Go, the new family mobile safety app and service. Get ADT Go with 24/7 emergency response with any ADT security system. Go to ADT.com to learn more today.

Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: What are you working on now that Halloween has passed? Is it a project around your house? Are you cleaning up the rotten pumpkins? Did you have any Mischief Night mischief that you have to kind of clean up now? You got some smashed jack-o’-lanterns on the sidewalk? Whatever is going on in your money pit, we’d love to help you tackle those projects. Whether they’re décor, maintenance, cleaning, give us a call. Let’s chat about it. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT. Or you can post your question to The Money Pit’s Community page at MoneyPit.com.

And if you call us at 888-MONEY-PIT, our number is presented by HomeAdvisor, the fast and easy way to find the right pro for any kind of home project, whether it’s a small repair or a major remodel.

LESLIE: Alright. We’re headed over to South Carolina now. We’ve got Dennis on the line.

Hey, Dennis. What are you working on?

DENNIS: I bought a house in Illinois, a house that was built in 1845.

TOM: Wow.

DENNIS: It’s got 2-foot-thick walls and it’s layered stone.

TOM: OK. OK.

DENNIS: My question to you is: what would you – what type of mortar would you recommend to put in that, in this old stone home? So that –because I mean over the years, people have tried to put some mortar in some of it – some of the mortar that’s fallen out and it cracked.

TOM: Right. Right.

DENNIS: But it’s all different colors. It looks goofy. I want to – I’d really like to make it uniform.

TOM: Yeah.

DENNIS: And what mix of sand and mortar would you recommend?

TOM: Well, usually for exterior and above-grade walls, you’d use a type of mortar called an N – N as in Nancy – an “N mortar mix.” It has a medium sort of compressive strength and it’s made of one part of Portland cement, one part lime and six parts of sand. It’s pretty easy to work with.

And you can also buy premade mortar mix from QUIKRETE. For example, they sell a type N mortar mix and they sell it in different colors. I think gray is the base color. So, you might want to take a look at that.

DENNIS: Right.

TOM: But I think what you’re looking for is type N mortar for stone walls.

Good luck with that project. That sounds really fun and I’m sure it’s a beautiful home. We appreciate you calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Well, even the cleanest of homes can have mold and we’re not just talking about the mold that covers the uneaten of leftovers from last week. You know, besides being unsightly, mold can cause major and even permanent health problems.

TOM: That’s right. But what do you do if you find mold or suspect that you have mold? The host of This Old House, Kevin O’Connor, is here to walk us through it.

So, Kevin, if we suspect that we have mold or we spot something that looks moldy, is it a do-it-yourself project to clean it up?

KEVIN: Well, I hate to say it but it depends.

TOM: OK.

KEVIN: And here are a couple things to think about. First of all, mold can pose serious health issues. So, if you are allergic to mold or if you have respiratory problems or a suppressed immune system, you should not be getting rid of the mold yourself.

Now, if you don’t have those health issues, then you want to think about how much mold do you have and where is it. If the mold covers, say, 10 to 30 square feet, that’s about the size of a 4×8 sheet of plywood, well, then you can probably get rid of it yourself.

TOM: Right.

KEVIN: If it’s a bigger area than that, you want to call in a professional.

And if you can see where the mold is, well, then you can probably get rid of it yourself. But if you’re afraid that it’s gotten behind the walls into places that you can’t see, that’s when you might want to think about calling in a professional, as well.

TOM: And I think it’s important to note that even if you are going to do it yourself, you want to follow some basic guidelines. And the New York City Department of Health actually has some of those guidelines online that are very helpful.

KEVIN: They do. So does OSHA. And basically, some of those guidelines say eye protection, gloves and a respirator whenever working with mold.

LESLIE: Now, if you do attempt to sort of tackle this do-it-yourself cleanup of mold, should you first identify what kind of mold that you have, to even see if you should do it yourself? Or if you’ve got it, get rid of it?

KEVIN: I don’t think you should bother with a mold test. I mean there are literally thousands and tens of thousands of different kinds of mold out there. Mold is a problem when it’s in concentrations and when it’s in our house. And so it doesn’t matter, really, what kind of mold it is; you want to get rid of it. So spend your time and money getting rid of the mold, as opposed to determining which kind you have.

TOM: Now, if you are going to hire a pro, it’s a challenge today, more so than ever before, to find somebody who really specializes in that.

KEVIN: And I think that’s the key. I think you do want to find someone who specializes in this. Someone might have done a great job renovating your kitchen and they might be a fantastic contractor but they should be trained in mold mitigation. And so not every contractor out there is right for this job.

I would suggest that you go to a couple different organizations that certify folks. There’s the American Indoor Air Quality Council and the Indoor Air Quality Association. That’s a good place to start when looking for a qualified contractor.

TOM: Now, what about insurance coverage for mold? Is that standard today or not? Or is it just another thing that they try to weasel out of?

KEVIN: Well, in terms of insurance, I think the answer there, also, is: it depends. It really depends on which – what kind of a policy you have. And I will say that you need to be aware that some insurance companies require additional riders for mold. So read the fine print and know what you’re getting into.

LESLIE: Now, what about once you’ve got the mold situation under control, what can you do to make sure that this doesn’t come back and isn’t a recurring problem?

KEVIN: Well, mold needs three things to grow and live: it needs oxygen, it needs food and it needs water. Deprive it of any one of those three things and you won’t have mold come back.

Now, it’s very – well, it’s impossible to deprive it of oxygen.

TOM: Right.

KEVIN: And it’s hard to deprive it of food, because it likes anything organic and it loves cellulose, so we’re talking 2x4s, we’re talking the paper on the backing of insulation and drywall. So, get rid of the water. No water? No mold.

TOM: Fix the leaks.

KEVIN: Fix the leaks, keep the house dry and you’re not going to have a mold problem.

TOM: Good advice. Kevin O’Connor, the host of TV’s This Old House, thanks so much for stopping by The Money Pit.

KEVIN: My pleasure to be here.

LESLIE: You can catch the current season of This Old House and Ask This Old House on PBS. For your local listings and a step-by-step video on mold removal and other projects, visit ThisOldHouse.com

TOM: And Ask This Old House is brought to you on PBS by Gorilla Glue.

Up next, if you’re sorry to see the green fade away as winter approaches, we’ve got some tips on the best plants for inside your home, to last the entire season, after this.

Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: And I know you like the mouse named Mickey but for the other mice in your life, not so much. I hear you had a visitor. What happened?

LESLIE: It’s a new roommate. I’m going to go with roommate.

I swear this thing is smarter than everybody else who lives in this house, which is me and my kids. So, it could definitely be smarter. But it’s the tiniest, cutest, little brown mouse with these tiny, little pink ears. And he’s very sweet. And every night, he walks right into my bedroom and then walks behind a dresser and disappears in my closet.

TOM: Oh, man.

LESLIE: And I can’t tell you how many little holes I’ve found around the house with the boys that we’ve plugged up with steel wool. I don’t leave the dog food out overnight. I have cleaned up everything. I put some traps under the dresser. I now have watched the mouse walk around the dresser completely and go back to where it’s going.

TOM: Smart mouse.

LESLIE: I don’t know what to do. And it’s so bad that I’ve finally gotten to a point where I’m like, “You know, I watch these Outlander– and Game of Throne-type shows where they interact with mice in their daily life.” I’m like, “I’m just going to sleep normal, knowing that there’s potentially a mouse walking around my bedroom.” It’s just not bothering me anymore.

TOM: Oh, man. What about bait stations? Maybe you should pick up a small bait station, give the mouse a little bit of food and they’ll just go away once and for all.

LESLIE: I have those – they’re mini-versions of a Havahart. It’s the ones that you can relocate the mouse. I don’t want to hurt it.

TOM: Alright. Yeah, I guess you’re too nice to use that kind of thing. But you said you did some traps. But the traps are not the kind that eradicate the mouse, huh? They just – you try to catch them?

LESLIE: No, it’s like, “Go inside this little house and then I’ll take you outside. And then you could come right back in.”

TOM: Did you put any food in it?

LESLIE: I did. I put peanut butter in one. I put a chocolate bar in the other, because it ate a chocolate bar.

TOM: You’re too nice. But OK, well, you let us know how that works out. And if you really get frustrated, I might suggest a different type of trap.

LESLIE: That roommate doesn’t invite other roommates over. I’m convinced that the one I see is just one.

TOM: You never know. You never know.

LESLIE: It’s just one. Only one.

TOM: At a time.

LESLIE: Well, if you’d like to choose the best plants for inside your home this winter, the first step is really knowing your house. You’ve got to know which room gets west, north, east, all that type of sun, southern exposure. Is that room sunny in the morning or in the afternoon? And then, once you kind of know the pattern of sunlight and warmth in your home, then you can choose the plants.

TOM: Yeah. Now, the best type of houseplants are not always those that are most popular but they’re those that are going to work best in varying levels of low to bright light.

First of all, the popular ones, like the ficus, not a very practical plant for a house. They’re difficult to maintain, they have to be grown in full sunlight and they do drop a lot of dense foliage.

We had a ficus tree, which is absolutely beautiful, in my first house. And I loved it. It was just gorgeous except it was just such a pain in the neck to take care of, because we’d always be picking up the leaves and it would leave sort of this gooey stuff that would get on the bark, like sap. And it was just a pain in the neck. So, it didn’t last more than about a year.

Now, the best alternative, though, to ficus is a Kentia palm. It’s popular in parlors and dens of Victorian homes. Each leaf is gradually smaller on each palm frond, so it’s got a very rich, green color. It’s elegant looking. And also, the Lady palm is a good choice because each leaf is kind of like a lady’s hands, with a paper-like texture.

LESLIE: Well, isn’t that super delicate, Tom, and so ladylike?

TOM: Real ladylike, yeah.

LESLIE: Another good option that I think some people have more luck with than others are orchids, especially if you seek out the moth orchid. The flowers are going to last for months. It’s really easy to maintain. They don’t need a ton of sunlight and they’re super gorgeous when they are flowering.

And let me tell you, when the flowers go away, if somehow you can make it figure out how to reflower, reach out to me and help me figure that out. Because one time I trained – you know how orchids have those little roots that come out?

TOM: Right.

LESLIE: I trained one up the little stick that the flower branch grows off of. And after six months, I went to the nursery and was like, “Why? Why will this not flower?” And he was like, “That’s the root.” So, orchids take special work but they are gorgeous. And if you could get the knack, it’s worth it.

Now, I think another thing people struggle with is when a plant is thriving in your house and it just sort of grows and grows and really fills that pot. So, how do you know when to repot it and how to do it? Well, if your plant isn’t absorbing water – either it’s just full of roots or you see that it’s not absorbing any water and it’s just ending out in the dish underneath the pot, there’s really no place for that water to go – it could be time to repot that plant.

So, in general, you want to go up about 2 inches in pot size. Then you want to use potting soil. Don’t be confused with topsoil, because you use that outside. You want to use rocks or even pieces of a broken clay pot to line a pot with holes in the bottom. This way, the dirt isn’t clogging the holes and the plant can actually drain, which it needs to to stay healthy. Then you go ahead and add soil almost to the rim, add your plant, fill with dirt to cover. Water it thoroughly. I would never dare to do it because I always feel like I kill everything but I have a girlfriend who is so gifted with greenery, she’ll take one that’s overgrown the pot and cut it into smaller sections and make them into more plants. God love her, she’s amazing at it but I can’t do it. I wish I could.

TOM: If you’d like some more tips on how to keep your plants kicking all winter long, check out our post, “13 Hard to Kill Houseplants.” It’s online, right now, at MoneyPit.com.

LESLIE: Now we’ve got Matt in Wisconsin who’s dealing with a splashy toilet. That is the worst: constantly cleaning a toilet seat. Tell us what’s going on.

MATT: Well, when we flush the toilet, a good portion of air comes up through the trap, forcefully enough to cause the water to splash up onto the seat or the inside of the lid if it’s closed.

TOM: Well, what really causes that, Matt, is a venting problem. Is this a new problem or has it always been this way?

MATT: No, it’s just within the last couple of months.

TOM: OK. So then what I suspect is that you’ve got a blockage somewhere. If your vent for that toilet is partially blocked, then the drain line is being starved with air. And if it’s starved with air, it’s going to try to gulp that air from somewhere else and that’s what’s causing the bubbles.

MATT: OK.

TOM: So, what you need to do is try to figure out where that obstruction is. And it’s going to be somewhere in the vent that is connected to the waste line under the toilet, if that helps you narrow it down a bit.

MATT: Yes, it does. Thanks.

TOM: You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Stick around because we’ve got a lot more great home improvement advice to share with you when we come back.

TOM: Where home solutions live, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Give us a call, right now, with your home improvement, your décor, your remodeling questions. We’re here to take them at 1-888-MONEY-PIT presented by HomeAdvisor. You can find out what it costs to do your home project before you hire a pro and instantly book one of HomeAdvisor’s top-rated pros, for free.

LESLIE: Alright. But you’ve got two pros standing by right now to jump into all of those questions you guys post in the Community section on MoneyPit.com. Every day we’re getting new questions, which I love.

This is actually a good one I don’t think we’ve received ever, as far as I can remember. Now, Sarah in Georgia writes: “Can you tell me what that little diamond mark is on my tape measure? It appears every 19-3/16 inches?”

I love how tape measures have really thought about everything and they give you all these little grabbers and holders and tricks and time-savers.

TOM: Yeah.

LESLIE: So what is this one?

TOM: Well, that is actually for spacing a certain type of building component. It’s for spacing a floor truss.

Now, if you think about a floor truss, they often have a 4-inch-wide top. They don’t need to be 16 inches on center because the top is so wide. You can use fewer of them and they can be farther apart.

Now, originally, 19.2 inches was used in metric layouts. So, dividing 5 into 96 inches, which is 8 feet, gives you 19.2 inches which yields 5 trusses per sheet of plywood floor. And that’s why we have the diamond marks on tape measures. It’s for laying out floor trusses to fit under plywood.

LESLIE: I love it.

Alright. Next up, we’ve got a post here from Ronnie in New York City who writes: “My home is 50 years old. Central air and heating were installed 15 years ago, which included 5 vents in the basement. An energy-conservation expert suggested sealing off those basement vents since it’s not used as living space. But an HVAC expert says closing the vents will build pressure and strain the system. I want to save money but not if it’s going to cost me in the long run. What’s the right move?”

TOM: I think they’re both a little bit right here. I mean you can shut off some rooms. Maybe shutting off something that’s 25 percent of your house, if it was designed to have an HVAC system in the basement from day one, a lot of times – I say that because a lot of times, systems were extended to cover a space like a basement if it was being finished, in which case it doesn’t really matter.

But I think if you were to shut off all of those registers and it was designed to have it in the system, you might strain the system a bit. You’d probably put more pressure on the blower. I don’t think you’d put much pressure on the compressors in the summer. It probably wouldn’t have any effect on the heat, although your system could cycle more.

So, yeah, I do think he’s right. There’d be more wear and tear on the system components. Whether it would be something that would force it to rapidly fail, I doubt. But it would save you a bit of energy, though.

But you know what? If you do – if you are really concerned about saving money, shutting off one room is one thing. But you really need to get your priorities in terms of where are you losing most of the heat. And that’s in your attic.

Right, Leslie?

LESLIE: Really, you have to think about the attic as the head of your house. And if you’re not properly insulated in your attic space, all of that heat is going to escape, just like it does through your head on your body. So you want to make sure that you have the proper amount of insulation. And I’m not talking about to the underside of the roof; I’m talking about on your attic floor, whether it’s blown-in or fiberglass. You know, you really want to check with what the state codes are for the minimum amount of suggested insulation to keep that air in. But you also need to let air out, so it’s all about insulation and ventilation in the right amounts.

TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show on this beautiful fall weekend. We hope we’ve been able to share some tips and ideas and projects for you to think about taking on in your home. But remember, if you’ve got questions, we are here any time of the day or night. Just pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT or post your question online to the Community page at MoneyPit.com.

I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself …

LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone.

END HOUR 1 TEXT

(Copyright 2018 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc. No portion of this transcript or audio file may be reproduced in any format without the express written permission of Squeaky Door Productions, Inc.)

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TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: We’re here to help you with your home improvement projects. Help yourself first by reaching out and calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. It does not matter when you are hearing the show; those lines are always answered. And if we’re not in the studio, we’ll call you back the next time we are. You can also post your home improvement question to The Money Pit’s Community page at MoneyPit.com.

Coming up on today’s show, going green can help you save energy. You know that, right? But listen to this: a new survey shows it can also bring you more green when it comes time to sell. We’ll share those eco-friendly features, just ahead.

LESLIE: And there’s an old saying that good fences make great neighbors. That is if you can get the fence built. We’re going to have some tips to make that project a lot easier.

TOM: And if your family is like most, you depend on the garage as sort of your real front door, right? That’s the main way you go in and out of the house. But if your door is old and worn, it can not only be unsafe, it also might be providing easy access for intruders, especially when you’re away. We’re going to have tips on what to look for in a new garage door when you hire a pro to get that job done, in today’s Pro Project, just ahead.

TOM: That’s going out to one caller drawn at random. Why not make it you?

LESLIE: Hey, give us a call. You’ve got to be in it to win it and those Arrow tools are fantastic. But you’ve got to be working on something or thinking about working on something so we can give you a hand.

TOM: The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first?

LESLIE: Hi, Fred. Welcome to The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

FRED: I have a standard toilet. It’s the type where the tank hangs on the wall and then you have an L and then you have, I guess – what do you call that? The bowl?

And it started to leak and so the old metal was pretty corroded and everything. So we took everything out. We took the tank off the wall, we – I say we, that I, the plumber who I’ve been using for many years cleaned everything up. Went to the hardware store that handles these kind of fittings and we just cannot get this thing to work. It leaks …

TOM: Where does it leak? Does it leak at the – where at – the base of the tank where the pipe connects?

FRED: In both, yeah. Well, one time we did it, it leaked at the bottom of the tank. The other time, it leaked when it went into the bowl.

TOM: What kind of a washer are you using? What kind of a gasket or seal are you using in those two places?

FRED: Well, I don’t know the technical names of it. The guy at the – they look like the same stuff we took off. I’m a musician; I don’t know all these things.

TOM: Well, this shouldn’t be that hard to accomplish and it sounds like whatever they’re using in that gasket space right there is not working. And look, if all else fails, you can simply use silicone here. You could apply the silicone in – as you put this together, you could – you seal all of those joints with silicone. Let it dry. Try not to touch it until it dries. And then you can take a razor blade and cut off the excess, nice and neat, and essentially make your own gasket.

FRED: Yeah, the plumber mentioned something. He said the only thing is if that thing fails and I’m not home, I’m going to have a house full of water.

TOM: That’s true. But the thing is, if it – once it works, it usually works, you know, continuously. It’s not – it doesn’t usually fail. If you get it right, it’s not going to fail, OK?

FRED: Yes. So, in other words, unless I can see some chips or damage on the porcelain or something like that, which I don’t see, it should work.

TOM: But I would take it apart and I would seal, with silicone, each connection as it goes together so that you end up with a good compression of silicone around that. That’s the solution, OK?

Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Pat in Arkansas is dealing with a humid house. What’s going on there?

PAT: Well, I have a new heat pump and it’s not taking out the humidity. Of course, I live in a humid area but I just wondered. It’s supposed to take out the humidity, as I understood.

TOM: Well, not really. I mean air conditioners, in general – central air conditioners, which is essentially what a heat pump is – are not designed to be dehumidifiers. They do dehumidify by virtue of the fact that they’re cooling the air but they’re not as effective as other forms of dehumidifiers.

There’s a couple of other ones that you could consider, one of which is called a “whole-home dehumidifier.” And that’s built into the HVAC system. It would be built into the duct system. And that can take out about 90 pints of water a day.

There’s another type of stand-alone dehumidifier. In fact, I just put one of these in my own house and I thought it was absolutely terrific. It’s by Santa Fe and it’s a small dehumidifier that installs – in my case, I put it in my basement. And it actually is suspended from the ceiling, in an unfinished part of the basement. And it’s only 12x12x22.

And it takes out 70 pints of water a day. And it’s really neat. Once I had it up for an hour or so, I went down there and you can just see this pretty strong stream of water dripping out of it. And all that water used to be in the air and now it’s no longer there.

So, you need to do some dehumidification and I think that you’ll find that that will do the trick, Pat.

PAT: OK. What is the average humidity supposed to be in a house?

LESLIE: Thirty to fifty percent?

TOM: Well, yeah, I was going to say around 40. So we’re in the same neighbor.

PAT: OK.

TOM: And if you put a good dehumidifier in, that will be set up to a humidistat so that you’ll always know what the humidity is.

LESLIE: And it’ll come on as it’s needed.

TOM: Right, exactly.

PAT: OK. Alrighty. Well, I thank you so much.

TOM: Good luck, Pat. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. Give us a call, right now, at 1-888-MONEY-PIT presented by HomeAdvisor, where you can find top-rated service pros, compare prices and book appointments online, all for free. The number, again, is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Alright. And still ahead, how to make some extra green by making your house more eco-friendly. It’s an investment that’s sure to pay off when you sell.

TOM: Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Pick up the phone, give us a call right now. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT presented by HomeAdvisor, the fast and easy way to find the right pro for any kind of home project, whether it’s a small repair or a major remodel.

LESLIE: And hey, give us a call, right now, at 888-MONEY-PIT or reach out online in the Community section, because we’ve got a great prize up for grabs. We’re giving away the iconic, American-made Arrow T50 Heavy-Duty Staple Gun and a supply of staples.

Now, it’s the most popular American-made staple gun ever. And there are so many things that you can do with that Arrow T50 Staple Gun. You can upholster a chair, you can make a headboard, you can do repairs around the house, so many awesome things.

TOM: Yeah. And speaking of awesome things, here’s a project, Leslie, that I know that you have done many, many times and that is upholster a chair, right? That’s a really easy DIY starter project for home improvers that want to step up their décor.

And Arrow Fastener has all of the steps outlined, waiting for you, at ArrowFastener.com. Just click on Projects. You’ll find step-by-step tips and advice to get that project done. Just go to ArrowFastener.com and click on Projects.

And hey, if you’re lucky, you might also just win that $35 stapler, plus the staples, for a total package of 50 bucks. Going out to one caller drawn at random. The number, again, is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Jim in Oregon is on the line with a driveway question. How can we help you today?

JIM: It’s a brand-new home. I lived in it less than about three months. A strange odor started coming through in the master bedroom that can’t be detected. We had plumbers come in to check the sewage system. They did a smoke test on it. Couldn’t find that. We just don’t know what the problem is. It’s really an odd odor.

TOM: How would you describe the odor?

JIM: It’s a cross between garbage and sewage smell.

TOM: Has anyone ever suggested biogas as the source of this?

JIM: No one ever suggested that.

TOM: Alright. So, this is a – I’m speculating here, alright? Now, I realize that they’ve done all these tests and so on but sometimes, you get bacteria that deteriorates in the traps of sinks and toilets. And it can release a biogas, which has an absolutely terrible, terrible smell.

One way to deal with that is to get a concentrated – like an oxygenated bleach solution mixed up and – like OxiClean or something like that. And then take a bottle brush and try to get that solution into the drain. Make sure you’re really scrubbing all the nooks and crannies of that drain and let it sit there for a bit. And if there’s any bacteria that’s forming there that could be contributing to this odor, that will eliminate it. So that’s one idea.

The second potential cause for this is simply a dead rodent. We’ve seen in the past where the rodents get into the spaces in and under or in the wall or something like that. And then they decompose and you get that kind of odor. So I don’t have a lot of solutions for you on that but I would try the biogas solution first.

And make sure you also get the overflow of the kitchen, of the – sorry – of the bathroom sink. That overflow channel? By letting the water run up, it’ll block the drain until it hits the overflow? Because if you have any of that bacteria in the overflow channel, that can contribute to it, as well.

JIM: OK. Did you ever find this in a new home before?

TOM: Yeah, I mean it can happen pretty quickly.

JIM: Oh, really? Hmm.

TOM: Even though it’s a new home, it’s been under construction for some period of time and so, it could have preexisted.

JIM: Well, I’ll definitely give it all a try.

TOM: Give it a shot.

LESLIE: Well, more and more home buyers are looking at green features when they’re choosing new homes. And that’s according to the National Association of Home Builders. But how does this trend carry over for those of you who already own or are looking to buy existing homes?

TOM: Well, it does carry over because you can easily add value to your home while using environmentally-friendly products and materials. For example, if you’re going to do a paint project, you want to choose paints that are labeled as containing low-VOCs or volatile organic compounds. These paints are not going to give off gas or produce noxious smells. And also, you can choose appliances that are extra efficient by always looking for the ENERGY STAR label.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm. Now, those are good tips. But you can also use natural, enduring materials such as stone, quarry tile and brick instead of the less durable synthetic materials. You should use eco-friendly light bulbs and install occupancy sensors that turn lights off and on automatically. Change out those older fixtures for WaterSense-certified plumbing fixtures. I promise you will not sacrifice pressure there at all, just savings.

TOM: Yeah. And also, think about using renewable resources like bamboo flooring. I love bamboo flooring. It’s so affordable and it’s really strong, it’s really durable. And because it’s a native plant, it really is going to last a very long time and be very easy to regrow. So, it gives you a good flooring and it’s easy to replenish and it’s very green.

And apparently, all these features added together will add up to some real value to your home when it comes time to sell, according to the experts at NAHB.

LESLIE: Judy in Missouri is on the line with a roofing question. How can we help you today?

JUDY: Yes, I was wondering if you had ever heard of – had a roof repair a few years ago and it’s been leaking ever since. They used what they called Tam-Shield. It’s a synthetic underlayment.

The reason that your roof is leaking now is probably not because of the Tam-Shield; it’s probably because of something that went wrong with the repair. But I don’t think it would have been the underlayment, because that’s actually pretty good stuff.

How is it leaking, Judy? Tell me about the leak.

JUDY: Well, we really don’t know. It comes through in our bathroom and we get up in the attic and we can see drips. But they can’t seem to pinpoint it. They worked on it several times and they just can’t get it to go away.

TOM: Alright. Usually, if your roof is leaking above your bathroom – there’s a pipe that goes through the ceiling right there and up through the roof and it’s the plumbing-vent pipe. And right around that vent pipe, there’s like a rubber boot that seals that pipe between the pipe and the roof itself. And then there’s flashing that goes around that. That’s the most common place for a roof leak when you have it leak right above a bathroom.

Now, a lot of times, contractors will try to sort of tar that in place but that’s a bad idea. What I would recommend is to take out the plumbing-vent flashing. And you can do that easily by removing a few shingles in that area.

Roof shingles are actually pretty easy to disassemble if you know kind of a trick of the trade. I like to do it with a flat bar that you can slip up under the roof shingle, find the nail and sort of pry it from side to side and it’ll pop right out. And then you replace that plumbing-vent flashing and put it back together again and make sure you put everything in the right order so it – the roofing lays on top of the flashing. That usually stops that leak.

JUDY: But you – but leave the vent pipes there?

TOM: Oh, yeah. The vent pipe is there for an important reason. You’re going to start having problems flushing your toilet and all your sinks are going to start to gurgle if you take that out. But replace the plumbing-vent flashing there, OK?

JUDY: OK. Well, thank you very much.

TOM: You’re welcome, Judy. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Brian, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

BRIAN: I’ve got a problem with our septic system. And our septic system zigzags back and forth in the backyard. And then where the end of it is, there’s a sinkhole developing.

TOM: How old is this septic system? Has it ever been inspected or cleaned?

BRIAN: We’ve cleaned it twice. It’s just my wife and I. This thing, I noticed, started developing kind of right after we moved into the house. Our house is about 20 years old.

TOM: Because I wonder if – if you say this is towards the end of the distribution field, I wonder if the field is not absorbing water like it should – absorbing the effluent as it should. And most of it is sort of running towards the end of the pipe like it’s a long drain. And as a result, it’s causing erosion in that area.

I think that probably the first thing I would do is have a septic inspection done with an examination of the field to check the percolation of it. Because if it’s not percolating, if it’s not draining properly, you could be spilling a lot of effluent into the ground unknowingly without it having a chance to really soak properly back into the soil. I think what we’re hearing here is a potential failure of your septic field, more than a problem with a sinkhole. I suspect that this is erosion that you’re seeing.

BRIAN: OK. It’s not just a matter of dumping a bunch of dirt in there and covering that up.

TOM: No. That would fill it up again but I’m afraid it would probably wash out again. So, that’s kind of what I would lean to is having that field inspected and just getting a sense of – listen, you want to find out now. You don’t want this thing to fail at the least opportune time. And if you find out early, at least you can plan a replacement if you have to.

Brian, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Michael in Rhode Island, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?

MICHAEL: I moved into a place. There was a tenant here before my wife and I moved in. And there’s a garage – a detached garage. It’s probably about 10 square, maybe. That’s what the roofer said it was, I believe.

The roof isn’t in bad shape. It’s probably 10 to 12 years old. It’s still got a lot of gravel on it but there’s a tree at one end – a maple tree; a big, old one – and the branches were hanging over it. And now they’re – they’ve been cut back. But there was like ¾-inch of moss all over the very end of it, going about 4 feet in the whole rake of – the guy calls it “the rake”: a hole from the gutter to the ridge. And it was all moss.

And I got up there with a small – like a kid’s nylon snow shovel and scraped a little off. And I was very leery of doing that because I didn’t want to take the gravel off, because the rest of the roof is fine. And I really don’t have the money to invest in a roof. And I was wondering if there’s some kind of a chemical I could use that wouldn’t loosen the gravel, that would melt that off maybe.

LESLIE: Well, yeah. Actually, there’s a couple of products on the market. A good one that we use a lot is Spray & Forget. And it’s actually something that you’ll spray right on the moss or mildew or anything that’s organic and growing on the exterior: your siding, outdoor furnishings, your roof, for example. And you spray it on and you forget about it. And it truly will do the work. The more it rains outside, the more it sits in the sun, that will start to sort of eat away at the moss and the mildew and get rid of it.

And it does a good job of maintaining it over time, as well. Plus, you really don’t want to get up on the roof. I mean everything is so slippery when there’s moss and mildew up there. And you just don’t want to get hurt. So you can do this all from the ground.

TOM: Yeah, it’s a great product. SprayAndForget.com is their website. Now, it will take the green stains away from exterior surfaces in about one to three days. If you’ve got really thick roof stains, that could take a couple of months or more to get rid of it – of all of it. But it starts to work as soon as you apply it.

The other thing that you can do on that tree that you mentioned is try to cut it back a little bit. The more sunlight you can get on that roof makes it a lot harder for that moss to grow.

MICHAEL: Yeah, yeah. The tree’s already been cut back, yeah. It was a safety issue besides an appearance issue just following on that. I just – but I (inaudible) shade but the thing is it was neglected for so many years. And as the water dripped, yes, the green of photosynthesis dripped down and it just stained it. And moss there was quite, quite thick. So what I did is I used a plastic ice scraper for our car and I got most of it off being very cautious, obviously. I had to be, you know, sitting on my rear end and my feet sideways in an old pair of sneakers.

TOM: Yeah, we don’t want you to get hurt.

MICHAEL: No, no, definitely don’t want that.

TOM: That moss can be very slippery, too. So it’s good that you got the most of it off but I want you to apply Spray & Forget. And I think you’ll be very happy with the result.

Thank you so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Give us a call at 888-MONEY-PIT presented by HomeAdvisor. Find top-rated home service pros, compare prices and book appointments online, all for free.

TOM: Up next, planning a fence project before weather turns cold? We’re going to have tips on a fast and easy way to get done what is usually the hardest part of that project: installing post. That and more, after this.

Making good homes better, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Standing by for your calls, your questions at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Kim in North Carolina, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

KIM: Well, we have trouble with weed. And it was never a trouble before. But it – we have had trouble finding what we used to have and want to know if it is outdated or no longer safe to use for the environment.

TOM: Oh, you mean your weed-killer?

KIM: Well, no. It’s not a weed-killer, because we try not to put anything down in the ground other than to kill the fire ants.

TOM: But your goal here is to eliminate weeds?

KIM: We used to use a black plastic. The black plastic would keep the weeds gone – just literally gone. And the plants would actually flourish from the root system being gently baked, we use the term. But now, all you can find is that sand fiber stuff almost.

TOM: Well, listen, if it’s worked for you in the past, I don’t see why it won’t work for you in the future. It certainly is available and it’s safe. And you’re talking about weed block. That’s a different material entirely. And weed block is basically designed to cover the whole surface or to be just below the surface. It will work, as well. But generally, with weed block, you put slits in it and that’s how the plants grow through it. They don’t grow under it.

Now, if you’re talking about a lawn, there are other ways to deal with a massive influx of weeds. If your lawn is in really bad condition and completely full with weeds, then I would recommend a kind of radical step called a “Round-Up restoration,” where you essentially spray the entire lawn with a Round-Up product in the fall, by the way. In the fall. You spray the entire lawn. And then as that lawn starts to die out, you put seed on it. And the seed comes up through the original dead lawn. And then by next spring, you’ll have a beautiful, new, green lawn without a lick of weeds in the whole place.

So there’s a couple of ways to approach it but either way, I think, is fine. If you can identify the plastic and use it again, I see nothing wrong with doing that. If you want to use the weed block, that’s fine. But you have to have cuts in it for the plants to come on. Or if you just want to restore the entire lawn, then go with the Round-Up restoration.

Kim, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

You know, it used to be that working with concrete for small projects like, say, setting a fence post was a real hassle. You had to buy all the raw materials. You had to mix them up probably using tools like your garden wheelbarrow and garden hoe. Then you had to clean them off before that concrete became permanently attached to the tools. It was a real mess.

LESLIE: Well, QUIKRETE has made that a lot easier with their Fast-Setting Concrete in the red bag. Now, it’s a special blend of fast-setting cements, sand and gravel that’s designed to set in approximately 20 to 40 minutes.

TOM: You can use it for setting a fence post, mailbox, deck footings or even for pouring a slab. And for those posts, you don’t even have to premix it. For fence posts, just pour the dry mix into the hole, add water and the post will be solid in 20 minutes.

LESLIE: QUIKRETE is available at home improvement retailers nationwide for about $5 a bag.

TOM: Look for it in the red bag or learn more at QUIKRETE.com.

LESLIE: Michelle in Minnesota is on the line with a bathroom-floor “thing” is all I can call it. What is going on? You’re getting moisture coming up through the floor?

MICHELLE: Yes. It’s a laminate floor. This is my third summer in this house and it’s the first time that I’ve had this issue. And it was – it started around the warm and humid days. At first, I thought maybe that it was my toilet leaking, because I had a new toilet put in last summer. But the plumber did come out and pull the toilet and it didn’t look like it was leaking or that the seal was broken on it. So we’re thinking that it’s condensation from the concrete slab coming up between the slats of the laminate flooring.

TOM: So the laminate flooring is on top of a concrete slab?

MICHELLE: Correct, yep.

TOM: What’s this looking – what’s this doing to the floor? Is it causing it to deform in any way? Or is it just showing up as a stain?

MICHELLE: It is not buckling or anything along the edges. He thinks that maybe it’s a rubber flooring – more of a rubber-based flooring – rather than a wood. And so it has not curled edges or anything like that. It just seeps up as moisture and it comes – like beads up right along the edges of the laminate.

TOM: Do you have air conditioning in this bathroom?

MICHELLE: I do not. Nope.

TOM: Yeah, I was thinking cooler, moist air against a warmer floor could cause additional condensation.

So look, if you want to reduce the moisture that’s coming up through the bathroom, there’s a couple of things I can suggest. First of all, you want to take a look at the grading and the drainage conditions outside that bathroom. Because the slab, if it’s getting very wet, is extremely hydroscopic. So all the moisture in the earth will be drawn into the slab and that’s going to wick up and show up in your bathroom, apparently.

So, take a look at your gutters and downspouts. Make sure they’re clean and free-flowing and the spouts are extending 4 to 6 feet from the house. Get all that roof water away and then take a look at the angle of the soil and make sure that that’s sloping away.

Now, do you have a fan in this bathroom?

MICHELLE: Yes.

TOM: That is helpful. You might want to think about replacing the fan with one that has a built-in humidistat, because that’s convenient in a couple of fronts. First of all, when you take a shower and you leave the bathroom and turn the switch off, it’ll actually stay on until all the moisture’s properly vented out of there. And if it does get humid on its own, then the humidistat will kick the fan on and also dry it out. They’re not terribly expensive; I know Broan makes a good one. There are a number of manufacturers you can find this from.

And keep an eye on the floor. Some laminate floors stand up very well to moisture. I’ve seen laminate floors that can be submerged and they don’t seem to be affected by it. But others will buckle just like hardwood would. So just keep an eye on it. And if it ends up that it does have to be replaced, I would paint that cement slab underneath with a couple of coats of epoxy paint to kind of seal in and stop the moisture from evaporating through and into the room.

MICHELLE: Mm-hmm. OK.

TOM: But only if you get that far. I wouldn’t tell you to tear up the floor now. But if you have to replace it, just make sure you seal the slab at the same time.

MICHELLE: Mm-hmm. Yeah, OK. Thank you. That’s good, thanks.

TOM: Alright. Good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Well, if your family is like most, you depend on the garage as the real front door to your house for reliable access, as well as protection. But if your door is old and worn, it could not only be unsafe, it could be providing easy access for intruders when you’re away.

TOM: We’ve got tips on what to look for in a new garage door when you hire a pro to get that project done, in today’s Pro Project presented by HomeAdvisor.com, just ahead.

Where home solutions live, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: And we are here to help you get your projects done around the house and give you some of the tools to do just that. This hour, we’re giving away the iconic, American-made Arrow T50 Heavy-Duty Staple Gun and a supply of staples.

If you’ve got to have one tool in your house, I tell you what, this might be the one because it is the most popular, American-made staple gun ever. And it can really help you do all sorts of things around the house. It’s got all chrome-steel housing. It’s got a jam-resistant mechanism. It’s got a very powerful coil spring. It’s got a staple-viewing window and all steel working parts.

And there are a lot of things you can get done with the Arrow T50 Staple Gun, including upholstering a chair, which is their Project of the Month at ArrowFastener.com. If you have, say, a dining-room chair or a kitchen chair with an upholstered seat and you want to make that go away and refresh it with something beautiful, you can do that project yourself. In fact, all of the steps and the tips and the advice, everything you need to get the project done is online, right now, at ArrowFastener.com. Just click on Projects.

And hey, if you call in your home improvement question, you might even win an Arrow T50 to work on that project with. That $35 stapler, plus 15 bucks in staples, going out to one lucky caller drawn at random. Make that you. The number, again, is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

Well, if your family is like ours, you depend on the garage door as your real front door for reliable access, as well as protection. But if your door is old and worn, it could not only be unsafe, it could be providing easy access for intruders when you’re away. We’ve got some tips now on what to look for in a new garage door when you hire a pro to get it done, in today’s Pro Project presented by HomeAdvisor.com.

LESLIE: First, the garage-door designs today are amazing. It used to be that you had to choose from heavy, wood doors that needed a lot of upkeep, to metal doors that were cold and prone to rust. Well, today, there’s a wide variety of composite and fiberglass doors available that look amazingly like wood but need virtually no care at all. Plus, the doors are better insulated and can keep those drafts out of your garage, which is especially nice if you like to use the space to work in.

TOM: Yes. But in addition to better doors, we also now have much better door openers. I mean today’s garage-door openers are fully integrated into smart-home technology. That enables you to open and close them from your smartphone and from virtually anywhere. I like this feature, too: they can even trigger an alert if you left home and left your door open.

Now, the openers themselves are also safer than what they were years ago, with improved auto-reverse mechanisms that prevent injury, as well as battery backups that can be super handy in the event of a power failure. All of these improvements make now a really great time to update your garage door and your garage-door opener.

LESLIE: And that’s today’s Pro Project presented by HomeAdvisor.com. With HomeAdvisor, you can get matched with top-rated home service pros in your area and compare prices, read verified reviews and book appointments online, all for free.

TOM: No matter the type of job, HomeAdvisor makes it fast and easy to hire the best local pros.

LESLIE: Jim in Pennsylvania, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

JIM: Yes. I have hard water in my house and every – I don’t know – year, about, I have to clean out my water heater to get the calcium deposits out. So, my question is: first of all, is there a better tool than a shop vac with a piece of copper tubing taped to it to get into the – you know, I take the bottom element out and I shove that in there and try to clean that calcium out. Is there a way to liquefy that so that I could wash it out? Or is there a water heater on the market that provides access to that?

TOM: So, how much calcium do you actually think you’re getting out of this when you open it up?

JIM: Oh, my. It gets to the point where it’s almost to the bottom element.

TOM: I wonder if you could put a filtration system in before the water heater that will take some of that away.

Yeah, the problem with calcium is not so much that it shortens the life of the water heater, it just acts as an insulator. And so, if you have it – I’m sorry, you have a gas – do you have electric water heater?

JIM: It’s electric, yeah.

TOM: Yeah. So it’s probably not even affecting your efficiency much because it’s just taking up room.

See, if you have a gas water heater and the flame is underneath it, then it acts as an insulator and the gas has to run longer to heat the water up. But because you have an electric water heater, where the elements are embedded up higher in the unit, I don’t think it has any effect on the efficiency.

JIM: Well, how I found out about this was the element went bad.

TOM: Yeah.

JIM: The bottom element. And I took it out to replace it and I could hardly get it out; it was actually above the element, at that point, the first time.

TOM: Yeah. You know why? Because it probably – that might have shortened the life of the element, because it basically held the heat into it, didn’t allow it to cool like it normally does. So I could definitely see it shortening the life of it.

Do you have any other type of filtration system on the well?

JIM: Just an in-line filter that we put on. We had the water tested and an ultraviolet light and an in-line filter is all we have.

TOM: There is an electronic device called EasyWater that basically will help suspend those water particles – those mineral salts – in the water and kind of let it flush right through, as opposed to collecting.

JIM: OK.

TOM: And I like it because it’s no salt involved. It basically doesn’t add to the salinity of the water. It does it electronically. It’s at EasyWater.com.

Take a look at it. They also have an extraordinarily good warranty. If you install it and you don’t like it, they’ll send you your money back.

JIM: Alright. Great. Thank you very much.

LESLIE: Alright. Thanks so much for calling The Money Pit at 888-MONEY-PIT presented by HomeAdvisor.

Find out what it costs to do your home project before you hire a pro and instantly book one of HomeAdvisor’s top-rated pros for free.

TOM: Up next, if your trips up and down stairs to do laundry are getting to be a drag, we’ve got ideas to help you bring your laundry to you. It’s all coming up, next.

Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Standing by for your calls and your questions at 888-MONEY-PIT presented by HomeAdvisor. They have the best local pros for any home service.

LESLIE: That’s right. Doesn’t matter what the project is, they make it fast and easy to find top-rated pros.

TOM: And there are no membership fees. It’s 100-percent free to use. HomeAdvisor.com.

LESLIE: Alright. And while you’re online, guys, post your questions in the Community section at MoneyPit.com or give us a call. We’re always standing by to lend you a hand.

Now, jumping into our posts, we’ve got one from Louis in Florida who writes: “How long should a garage-door opener last? Our seems to be working intermittently lately, especially the remote units in our cars. We tried changing the batteries. Now, the unit itself is about 12 years old.”

TOM: That’s an antique in garage door-opener years.

LESLIE: True.

TOM: Yeah. That’s really old. And it’s old for two reasons.

First of all, it’s old for a piece of – any piece of mechanical equipment. But secondly, it’s old because the standards have changed and the function has changed over the last decade-plus. So, I think this is a really good opportunity for you to think about replacing that garage-door opener itself. That’s a project you could find a pro for at HomeAdvisor.com.

A couple of things that you will benefit from. The technology has improved, so you’ll have the benefit of wireless access to that door. I love the feature that when you leave home and leave the door open, that can give you a push alert on your phone. I mean most of these openers have that kind of technology today. Plus, it’s just a safer, more secure product. And it’s harder to break into for criminals, as well. Because a lot of the old door openers were pretty easy to get into but the code is much more sophisticated now.

So, all great reasons for you to replace that door opener. Its time has come.

LESLIE: Alright. Next up, we’ve got a post here from Jim in Alabama who writes: “I took your advice and got a programmable thermostat. I’ve already noticed big savings. Now, no one is home during the day and I set it to get pretty hot. My question is: how hot is too hot? We have serious heat and humidity here in Southern Alabama. Can I let my house heat up to 85 or 87 without causing damage?”

TOM: Only damage to your electric bill. Look, if you let everything in the house get that hot, it’s going to take a lot more energy to cool it down. So I wouldn’t go quite that high. I might try to keep this at around 78 or 80 max. If you let the house get practically the same temperature as the outside, it’s going to take hours for it to cool down again. It’s going to waste more energy and cost you a lot more money than you could possibly save by, essentially, turning it off while you’re not home.

LESLIE: Yeah. And keeping it in the high 70s really is enough, I promise.

TOM: Well, if you’re constantly navigating a narrow stair with a laundry basket in your arm, it might be time to bring that laundry room to you. Leslie tells us how to do just that, in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word.

Leslie?

LESLIE: Yeah. You know, more new homes have washers and dryers in hallways, kitchens and bathrooms. But if yours is stuck in the basement or at least on the floor other than the bedrooms, don’t worry. It’s never been easier to move your laundry room upstairs.

For example, a stack washer and dryer is small enough to fit into a closet. Another type of combo unit washes and dries clothes without any help from you. Now, this unit looks just like a normal washing machine but you won’t have to move wet clothes from the washer to the dryer, because the washer is the dryer. So it saves a ton of space.

I remember a long time ago, my family – we all went on a vacation to London. And instead of going to a hotel, we rented an apartment. And in the kitchen, they had one of those combo units under the counter. It was amazing. It was on the smaller side but you just set it, forget it, walked away and your laundry was done.

So, guys, bring that laundry room to you, instead of you having to go to the laundry room, and cleaning your clothes will be less of a chore.

TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Show where we try to help you with all the chores around your house, at least those having to do with home improvement, remodeling and décor. And coming up next time on the program, just like choosing the best lumber for a project, there are a wide variety of grades of vinyl fence. If that’s a job you’d like to get done, we’ll tell you which ones will really stand up to the test of time.

I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself …

LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone.

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(Copyright 2018 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc. No portion of this transcript or audio file may be reproduced in any format without the express written permission of Squeaky Door Productions, Inc.)